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Five Ways To Make More Money Before Year-End Without Having To Leave Your Job

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Getting a new job is one way to make more money. If you’ve been working at the same employer for a while and getting negligent raises each year, you may have fallen below market. I once had a very talented colleague who had started at our employer in an administrative role. Even after she proved herself to be a very capable manager, her compensation didn’t adequately reflect the increased responsibility she took on – until she left for a competitor, who bumped up her salary to lure her and who also could more objectively see her at the senior level (many companies are not effective at promoting from within).

However, if you like your job, you don’t have to leave your job just to make more money. Here are five ways to make more money now – actions you can implement before the end of the year:

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Ask for a raise.

Many companies are on a calendar fiscal year, which means January is when new budgets are released and now is the time those new budgets are decided. If you want your department’s budget to include a raise for you, start your negotiation process now. Build your case, collect market data to support it, and collect personal results to support your specific ask. Research how the process works and what constraints your employer may have. Think about alternatives if your boss pushes back. Consider other offers or ways to gain leverage in the negotiation. And don’t forget to practice! I wrote another post in more detail on these seven steps to take before asking for a raise.

Ask for more outside of a raise.

An increase in your salary isn’t the only way your employer can compensate you. Ask for a spot bonus (if you had a big win that year, you could tie it to that). Ask for equity or options (this was how I got one underpaid member of my team some extra money one year – dipping into a slush option pool available for one-time grants). Think about career-related expenses your employer can pay for – professional memberships, conferences, certifications, classes. Employers hesitate to give raises because these increases become the new baseline for each successive year. But one-time only, specific requests may be easier to get approved.

Pick up a seasonal job.

FlexJobs, a job board specializing in flexible work opportunities, recently posted 15 seasonal jobs, ranging from ski instructor to senior tax associate. Of course, the holidays will bring an increased need for sales and customer service support (the FlexJobs post also mentions Santa Support Elf as a possibility!). But there are seasonal needs for knowledge workers, as well. One of my HR colleagues is working with a local college who needs extra help onsite to coach their students during the busy recruiting season.

List on a freelance aggregator.

Sites like Upwork, Thumbtack or Fiverr are job boards but for entrepreneurs, not employees. If you have been thinking about launching a business on the side but are intimidated by doing all the branding, sales and marketing yourself, you can experiment with listing your services at a freelance aggregator that already has traffic and processes in place to match clients with freelancers.

Become a 10% entrepreneur.

In The 10% Entrepreneur: Live Your Startup Dream Without Quitting Your Day Job, author Patrick McGinnis shares strategies and real-life examples of people, including himself, who maintained demanding day jobs but then pursued start-up activity on the side, many as advisers or consultants. McGinnis’ premise is that you pick an area where you have special expertise, connections, or other type of edge so that even a small amount of time (that extra 10%) can yield a big payoff. This book offers a mindset shift away from all-or-nothing thinking and challenges you to rethink how you’re spending your free time.

There are many ways you can give your bottom line a boost this year, without the disruption of a job change. In 5% More: Making Small Changes To Achieve Extraordinary Results, author Michael Alden challenges readers to focus on just a 5% change – 5% more time on the treadmill, 5% more sales calls, 5% more to savings. Alden has come up with a clever and help premise since 5% more effort could be enough to make forward progress but not so much that it’s overwhelming. To that end, how can you make 5% more this year? Which strategy will you try?

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